March 29, 2011 -- Federal IT professionals are expected to turn on a dime - move to the cloud, keep everything transparent, and keep fiscally responsible. With billions spent on IT projects every year, everyone wants the acquisition process to be improved.

Dave Patterson is the executive director of the National Defense Business Institute at the University of Tennessee, College of Business Administration. In his role, he helps students understand the appropriate method for implementing IT acquisition.

Patterson has decades of experience in the world of federal acquisition. He was principal deputy for the Undersecretary of Defense when it was running a $515 billion budget.

In the interview, Patterson differentiates between several organizations that assist in the acquisition process. He reviews the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment Project and many others.